A Day Police Never Showed

A Day Police Never Showed
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By ROB SEAL
rseal@potomacnews.com
Saturday, April 22, 2006

Feb. 2 was a good day to fight a ticket issued by the Haymarket police.

Court records show that 47 misdemeanor charges - mostly traffic tickets, but including some charges of drug possession and driving under the influence - were dropped that day because some Haymarket police officers weren't in court when their cases were called.

The reasons for the absences vary. One officer had been arrested and suspended from the force, two others said they were stuck in line at the courthouse's metal detectors and had their cases dismissed before they made it to the courtroom.

Another officer allegedly had to leave court early to attend a college class.

Haymarket officers are typically in General District Court one day each month to testify about misdemeanors and traffic tickets they've issued. An attorney retained by the town handles those cases, instead of a prosecutor rom the Commonwealth's Attorney's office.

All told, eight officers from Haymarket Police were in court Feb. 2, court records show. Four of them had some or all of their cases dismissed.

Charlie Proffitt and Timothy Benjamin are former part-time officers with the Haymarket Police.

By Feb. 2, the town's part-time force had been suspended pending a review, but Proffitt and Benjamin were still expected to appear in court to testify about tickets they had issued.

Because they were no longer with the force, the two former officers had to wait in line at the courthouse metal detectors instead of bypassing the line as police officers usually do, they said.

As a result, Proffitt and Benjamin were about 15 to 20 minutes late, Proffitt said.

When they got to the courtroom, prosecutor Cynthia Dupray had dropped all of their pending cases, the two former officers said.

Benjamin said Dupray had been told that the reserve officers weren't going to show up, and had dropped.....

A Day Police Never Showed
(Click above link to read full article.)